Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
The Nation: New Mexico legislature to Congress: Amend against "Citizens United"
On the New Mexico legislature's passage of a resolution which "calls on the Congress to pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to overturn the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC."

HuffPost: Super PAC for the people
Rep. John Sarbanes writes about his grassroots donor plan.

NYT: Montana and the Supreme Court
On the Montana Supreme Court decision related to Citizens United: "In this important case, Montana should have the opportunity to fully defend its court and its anticorruption law."

The Hill: Lobbyists sue Obama administration after being booted from boards
"Lobbyists who were booted from federal advisory committees by the Obama administration are suing the government to reverse the ban on their service."

Federal Computer Week: Obama budget bans political contribution disclosure
Is this right? The Obama budget "forbids agencies from collecting such information" about contractor political spending.

Congress/2012
Politico: Super PACs: Real life, or Comedy Central?
"When it comes to super PACs, it’s getting hard to tell the difference between reality and a Comedy Central bit."

Salon: America's billionaire-run democracy
From Michael Winship and Bill Moyers: "Watching what’s happening to our democracy is like watching the cruise ship Costa Concordia founder and sink slowly into the sea off the coast of Italy, as the passengers, shorn of life vests, scramble for safety as best they can, while the captain trips and falls conveniently into a waiting life boat."

Politico: David Donnelly's response to "Obama super PAC--hypocritical or common sense?"
Check out Public Campaign Action Fund's David Donnelly's response to yesterday's Politico Arena question: "Given the near-universal acceptance that our campaign finance laws aren't working for regular people, the question is, what will the person we elect, or re-elect, in November do about it?"

Slate: Why super PACs are good for democracy
Dave Weigel writes that super PACs, "Unfortunately for the cause, it’s getting harder to argue that super PACs have horribly degraded our elections. In this first presidential election since the dawn of the supers, they have actually—and probably by accident!—given us a more competitive, transparent Republican primary. They are, in a sense, a good thing for our democracy."

AP: Most of Romney's top fundraisers remain anonymous
"Yet Romney has not identified all of his so-called fundraising "bundlers" who have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, even after President Barack Obama's re-election campaign released the names of his top fundraisers."

PCAF: Jeb Hensarling bashes Wall Street reform while raking in Wall Street money
Jeb Hensarling wrote an op-ed bashing Dodd-Frank yesterday. We look at all his Wall Street money.

AP: Tester rejects Rehberg counteroffer
"U.S. Sen. Jon Tester is rejecting Congressman Denny Rehberg's campaign finance counteroffer that called for a race funded only by individual Montanans." In fairness, the Rehberg offer was kind of ridiculous.

WaPo: With multistate primary days looming, Romney and cash-strapped rivals dash for campaign cash
"Mitt Romney and his under-funded opponents are taking advantage of a weeklong lull in the Republican presidential nomination fight — no debate or primary is slated — to raise the money needed to carry out Super Tuesday strategies and compete in states beyond."

Politico: Laura Richardson's ethics woes mount
Eek: "Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson instructed taxpayer-funded House aides to work on political redistricting last year, sources familiar with the situation told POLITICO."

Politico: Messina letter rips Mitt, dings Fox
"Obama campaign manager Jim Messina warned campaign contributors in a fundraising letter that Mitt Romney would “depend on his super PAC to spend unlimited Corporate Money” in the 2012 campaign — even as Obama campaign has signaled to wealthy donors that that they are encouraged to support the super PAC backing the president’s reelection."

The Hill: Obama budget repeals billions in oil, gas tax breaks, reviving fight with GOP
Big Oil won't be pleased: "President Obama’s new budget proposal calls for the repeal of billions of dollars in oil-and-gas industry tax breaks."

National Journal: Why politicians hate outside money
"The debate over the post-Citizens United world of campaign finance has attracted arguments from proponents and the opposition about principle, free speech, and the lasting impact on the way campaigns are contested. But as the game is playing out on the field of political campaigns, there is only as much room to advance the debate as there is for personal gain."

NYT: Moon candidate returns to earth
Andy Rosenthal: "Mr. Adelson is certainly entitled as an American and a casino-owner to throw away heaps of cash for no good reason, but it might be wiser to have a campaign system that doesn’t let him skew a presidential race in the process."

National Journal: Obama budget has K Street hustling
"President Obama's just-released $3.8 trillion budget has lobbyists all over the city scouring the massive document to find the implications for their clients and industries."

Politico: Obama shift reconnects donors to Cabinet secretaries
On allowing cabinet secretaries to speak at super PAC meetings: "The shift gives big corporate donors, unions and other wealthy individuals time with policymakers, lawmakers and key administration aides that they haven’t had since McCain-Feingold took effect in 2002." More at iWatch.

HuffPost: Scott Brown's pledge to keep out third parties written with help of third party
Some tech sleuthing found out that the Scott Brown pledge to stop outside spending was written by a lawyer at the NRSC, an outside spender.

Roll Call: Loopholes allowed for long Vegas vacation
"But through the clever use of loopholes, this year, about a dozen Members and staffers (and family) were able to convert the convention into a four-day junket, with the Consumer Electronics Association still picking up the bulk of the tab."

Roll Call: Keating will pursue bold goals in new job
A short profile of David Keating, the former head of Club for Growth who is now the president of the anti-regulationists Center for Competitive Politics.

Republic Report: Herman Cain's campaign manager to corporate lobbyists: "Get a new job"
Mark Block is concerned about corporate lobbyists.

WaPo: Congress looks for ways around the Supreme Court
Talk of Citizens United, Skilling, and other cases that people across the street from SCOTUS did not appreciate.

WaPo: As Congress examines members' trading, an echo from a bygone era
"Last week’s news that a House committee chairman was under investigation for possible insider trading sent shock waves through the Capitol, but it was not the first time that politicians and financial trades became a volatile combination." On Bachus's possible electoral troubles.